RVT.com RV Trader Blog

RVIA RV Trade Show to Highlight New Trends

Outlet 2010: Let the Sun Shine is the upbeat theme of the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association’s 47th annual national RV trade show. The country’s biggest RV show will be held from December 1-3 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, KY. The trade show will showcase the industry’s newest “green” RVs as well as plenty of innovative and eco-friendly products and services for the RV industry.

Growing RV sales have been one of the few bright lights in an otherwise dim U.S. economy. Increasing interest in the RV lifestyle has increased both new and used RV sales which has caused RV manufacturers to ramp up production, rehire laid off workers and hire new workers. The RV nation is certainly doing its part to light up the economy.

As the RV industry prepares to celebrate its centennial next year, 2010 is expected to herald new trends in the industry. Simplicity, discretionary thrift, mercurial consumption and green living are expected to drive the RV sales market in the coming year.  Among the highlights of the RVIA RV show will include a presentation by Silvio DiSalvatore, father of the family that won NBC’s hit summer reality show Great American Road Trip. DiSalvatore, who has repeatedly said the RV trip was the best time he and his family have ever had, will talk about his family’s summer RV experience.

Federal Rec Sites Free on Vets’ Day

Gas up the RV, load up the picnic basket, grab your fishing poles, bikes or hiking boots and head for your favorite recreation spot. To honor the brave men and women who serve or are veterans of our armed forces, federal recreation sites will be free for all on Veterans’ Day, November 11. The recreational fee waiver applies to all public recreational lands managed by the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Reclamation. That covers a lot of land and certainly a great place to RV near you.

While you’ll still have to pay for RV camping, concessions and a few other premier services like heritage expeditions, you’ll save on waived entrance fees, boat launch fees and other normal recreational expenses.

A number of state’s are following the fed’s lead and also waiving fees on Veterans’ Day. Florida State Parks will waive day-use entrance fees for all visitors. Check state park websites to see who is participating. Certain rec sites may be excluded from the offer.

If you want to get a quick overview of state parks near you or along your travel route, StateParks.com gathers them all onto one easy to navigate website. From the U.S. map on the homepage, you can quickly click from state to state to get a list of parks. Locations, directions, amenities and user reviews with links to individual park websites are provided for each park. A great RV resource.

New Products Take Chill Out of Fall RVing

If you enjoy fall RVing, we’ve found two products that can make those chilly fall days and nights more enjoyable.

There’s nothing like a roaring campfire on a cool fall evening. Sitting around the campfire swapping stories and watching the stars are among the joys of RV camping.  But starting a fire in the fall can be a challenge. When the weather’s cold and damp, so is the wood. Campfire in a Can is the solution. Campfire in a Can provides a toasty fire that is safe enough to burn on a wood deck or patio carpet. Natural looking logs and an adjustable flame create a cozy campfire experience. Compact and lightweight, the long propane hose stores conveniently inside the canister, making it easy to store in your RV.

It’s pleasant to sit outside your RV and take in the colorful landscape. Red and yellow leaves drift slowly in the breeze, squirrels scamper up and down trees, the air has a special tang and crispness — ah, autumn! Tempachair keeps fall chills at bay. A portable, heated director chair that uses radiant heat technology, Tempachair keeps your backside toasty while you sit outside your RV enjoying the sights and smells of autumn.

Find these and many more products and RV accessories on RVT.com. Just click on RV Accessories on our home page for a continually updated list of products geared to make your RV travel experience exceptional.

Follow RVT.com on Twitter

If you’re not following RVT.com on Twitter yet, you’re missing some great RV travel destinations, helpful tips and the opportunity to be the first to hear important RV news. For example: Today we’re tweeting on cool zoos you can visit with your family. Zoos are popular RV trip destinations, particularly for families, and fall, when cool weather makes animals more active and playful, is the best time to visit our nation’s many zoos.

You can find first-class zoos in every part of the country. Most are planning special events for Halloween with special activities for children (the popular Boo at the Zoo). The whole family will enjoy a trip to a zoo with recent newborn animals, and it’s a great way to teach your children about wildlife and habitat preservation. U.S. zoos support vigorous breeding programs to preserve and repopulate the world’s animal species. Visiting zoos to watch the playful antics of newborn animals makes for a fun family weekend and a great RV destination. Before you go, check out the ZooBorns website where you can watch pictures and videos of recently born animals at U.S. and world zoos. Use the site to plan your next RV zoo trek.

Information about great zoos to visit is being tweeted to followers on RVT.com Twitter today. Sign up for RVT.com Twitter on our website so you don’t miss out. Sign up is easy. Just click the “Follow Us On Twitter” link toward the bottom of the left-hand navigation column on our homepage.

Ken Burns Tours National Parks on PBS

Film maker Ken Burns, who teamed up with PBS in 1990 to bring us an epic series on the Civil War, chronicles the development of our country’s extraordinary national parks system in a 12-hour PBS series debuting at 8 p.m. this Sunday. The National Parks: America’s Best Idea will run on PBS stations at 8 p.m. on consecutive nights from Sunday, Sept. 27 through Friday, Oct. 2 (check your local listings). This series is a must see for RV travelers who enjoy camping at national parks. Each two-hour episode will explore the park system’s rich history, from its evolution to the people whose efforts turned dream into reality to the history and development of individual parks. Expect plenty of gorgeous film footage of scenic park vistas. The series promises to enrich your next RV trip to a national park while showcasing parks you may want to visit.

Many of our national parks were simply tracts of preserved land until President Roosevelt used the CCC to put people back to work during the 1930’s depression (see our last post). Roads, trails, campsites and visitors’ centers built by the CCC opened America’s national parks to the public, for the first time providing easy access to these natural treasures. Shenandoah National Park in Virginia was the first park to benefit. CCC-built Skyline Drive provides sweeping vistas of the Blue Ridge Mountains as it twists through 105 miles bisecting the park. The beautiful RV campsites and great hiking and biking trails we enjoy at Shenandoah now began with the CCC.

Gentlemen, Start Your RVs!

When you think of drag racing, big, boxy RVs aren’t the vehicle that comes to mind. But that didn’t stop fans of souped up historic GMC motorhomes. The 3rd Annual Florida Sunshine Statesman GMC Drag Race drew RV fans from across the country to Orlando, Florida for an all-in-good-fun, pedal-to-the-metal race down the drag strip. Watch RVers burn rubber on RV Buddies.

Veteran RVer Bob Heller was crowned King of the Strip, setting a new record of 22.514 seconds at 62 mph. Bob drove a souped up 1974 GMC with a 455 big-block engine with 110,000 miles on the odometer. A true RVer, Bob handles all the repair work and maintenance on his beloved GMC.

There are more than 20 GMC RV clubs nationwide dedicated to preserving this classic motorcoach. The GMC’s automotive heritage, revolutionary front-wheel-drive drive train, low center of gravity, air-spring suspension and sleek, bullet-shaped good looks have made this RV a cult classic. When they first started rolling off the production line in 1973, GMC motorhomes were the first to break away from the boxy look of their predecessors and adopt a sleek, aerodynamic design. GMC motorhomes featured the same drive train and front suspension used in Oldsmobile’s Toronado, providing a truly comfortable ride. Innovative coach bodies featured fiberglass and aluminum. The last GMC RV rolled off the assembly line in 1978, a victim of the fuel crisis.

RVT.com offers many classic GMC motorhomes for sale online. Just select GMC from the “Make” category and click.

Family Bonding Real Prize on RV Reality Show

Tonight’s the night. The Coote and DiSalvatore families duke it out for the big $100,000 prize on the finale of NBC’s Great American Road Trip (8 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Central). The prime time reality show has brought the fun of RV living into America’s living rooms as we’ve watched seven families traveling by motorhome trek from Chicago to Los Angeles. The cross-country tour has been peppered with weird attractions, comic competitions and an undeniable love for RV traveling.

“Our RV became our home away from home. I would do it again in a second,” competitor Amy DiSalvatore told RVIA. Families travel in Fleetwood’s Bounder Class A motorhomes.

“The competing families all found the experience of RVing to be rewarding and fun, with many families who were sent home saying that the trip itself brought them closer together, and that family bonding was the real prize,” RVIA VP Gary LaBella said in an RVIA press release. RVIA assisted the show’s producers.

The show has been great PR for the RV industry which just got another boost with last week’s premier of Glenn Martin, DDS on Nick at Night (8 p.m. Mondays). A collaboration between Nickelodeon and former Disney honcho Michael Eisner, the stop-motion animated comedy follows a dentist — voiced by Saturday Night Life alumnus Kevin Nealon – and his family on a cross-country RV road trip. Once again, RV living brings together a dysfunctional family that has lost touch with each other. What’s next? An RV super hero?

Security Tips for RV Buyers and Sellers

As North America’s leading online RV sales site, RVT.com employs the latest in fraud prevention systems to protect our sellers and buyers. Our security system is constantly upgraded to ensure our users maximum protection. However, computer scammers are a crafty lot. You’ve probably read newspaper accounts or seen internet warnings about people duped into revealing their personal information by fraudulent bank or credit card websites. Law enforcement officers say these fraudulent websites can look like the real thing, down to the company logos and legitimate appearing URLs (internet addresses).

Whenever you’re buying or selling on the internet, it pays to be cautious. Follow these security tips to protect yourself and your personal information:

• If the deal seems too good to be true, it usually is.
• Refuse deals where the buyer, acting on behalf of a “client,” asks you to send any amount of money greater than the selling price.
• Use caution with buyers or sellers claiming to be from overseas.
• Avoid sellers who post a bogus phone number and won’t provide a working number or who try to do business exclusively by email.
• Refuse deals where the buyer asks you to pay for an RV inspection.
• Beware of anyone requesting personal or financial information.
• Don’t ever send a deposit or payment by wire or money transfer; use an escrow service. Be wary of cashier’s check payments; talk to your bank first.
• When using escrow services, use trusted providers like Escrow.com. Never use links sent via email which can lead to fraudulent sites. Always type the company’s URL directly into your web browser.

For more fraud prevention tips, visit RVT.com. If you’re ever concerned about security or want to report a suspicious ad, contact our staff at tradersupport@rvt.com or 1-800-677-4484.